First World Problems in a Third World Country

Prior to moving here, my Dad made a comment about moving to a third world country. In typical Mel fashion (in particularly when my parents say something), I got all defensive and was like, “not it’s not a third world country! It’s not like I’m moving to the dessert of Africa or something!” And of course, he was right, although I prefer “developing country.” 😉

So adjusting to lack of internet has been interesting. I miss having unlimited access to the web. I want to catch up on so many US TV shows (American Horror Story, Survivor, Project Runway, Jerseylicious, LOL); I want to video Skype with my familyand friends; I want to just tool around on it without having to worry about whether or not I am burning through my 3G service. Thankfully, I have managed to make the internet from my phone into a wireless router, so now we have twice as much internet as we used to.

Getting paid here is quite the challenge as well. Since Jason is in the process of getting his carnet, we still have a US bank account. So if his salary is deposited on a Friday, we have to wait til it clears on Monday night. It’s not really that big of a deal, as long as you are prepared for it (which of course we weren’t). My job needs recibos, which we don’t have and won’t until the carnet gets processed. Recibos give you a RUC, which is a number that proves you are allowed to work in Peru, and also allows you to receive money here. Many tourists who are here for short periods of time end up using a trusted friend’s recibos, but we aren’t going to do that. Having a US bank account isn’t all bad though, especially when you need to pay US bills. And unfortunately, we do have many US bills. It sucks, but such is life. Maybe if we stay here long enough, they’ll disappear? Yeah, I doubt it.

Lastly, I will have to do a border run. Meaning, I have to leave the country to get my Visa renewed. If I go to Chile, I will have to pay a tariff or go to Ecuador on a really, really long bus ride. What a tough life we are living, isn’t it?

3 responses to “First World Problems in a Third World Country”

Well, you can always use a ‘cabina’. They are ridiculously cheap and maybe it’s a nice opportunity to meet new people. You can calm your father down an tell him we actually use clothes over here and don’t go around naked, and we even have this new thing call ‘electricity’ or something.

Are you able to connect to U.S. media sites? Or is the issue just the Internet access itself? We couldn’t connect to a lot of sites in Korea, but we signed up for a VPN service & were able to see all of our shows. Of course unlimited access wasn’t the issue though.

I remember having to do the renewing the visa overnight jaunt too. Actually 2 times. The first time I flew from Japan to Korea & spent a night there. Second time I actually flew all the way back to the U.S.! A friend was having a baby so it was a good excuse to leave. 🙂